


The Thing Is

by grangered



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 14:45:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9825092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grangered/pseuds/grangered
Summary: When Betty Cooper opens her apartment door and finds a boy with red hair and freckles and a small smirk, she does her best not to let her mouth hang open.See, the thing isBetty hasn’t seen Archie in a year and three months. She’s texted him a handful of times, sure, and she sent him a vinyl of his favourite band (some weird indie group whose songs comprised mostly of banjos and rhythmic clapping) for his birthday, but other than that, they’ve barely spoken. If someone had told eighteen year old Betty that this would be the current situation of her friendship with Archie Andrews ─the boy she had had a crush on for as long as she could remember─ she would’ve laughed in their face. Twenty-one year old Betty however, just goes with it. It’s not that her and Archie are on bad terms; they’re actually perfectly fine. They just grew apart. College is hard work and being so far off from each other took its toll on their friendship. Somewhere between assignments and quizzes and extracurriculars, ArchieandBetty became Archie and Betty.Or, Archie finds Betty because she's disappeared.





	

When Betty Cooper opens her apartment door and finds a boy with red hair and freckles and a small smirk, she does her best not to let her mouth hang open. Archie is watching her almost carefully, hair sticking up in different directions. She doesn’t know whether to hug him or shake his hand or ask him why he’s at her apartment in New York, two thousand five hundred miles away from Riverdale, which is where he _should_ be, celebrating Thanksgiving with his family.

_See, the thing is_

Betty hasn’t seen Archie in a year and three months. She’s texted him a handful of times, sure, and she sent him a vinyl of his favourite band (some weird indie group whose songs comprised mostly of banjos and rhythmic clapping) for his birthday, but other than that, they’ve barely spoken. If someone had told eighteen year old Betty that this would be the current situation of her friendship with Archie Andrews ─the boy she had had a crush on for as long as she could remember─ she would’ve laughed in their face. Twenty-one year old Betty however, just goes with it. It’s not that her and Archie are on bad terms; they’re actually perfectly fine. They just grew apart. College is hard work and being so far off from each other took its toll on their friendship. Somewhere between assignments and quizzes and extracurriculars, _ArchieandBetty_ became _Archie and Betty._

_See, the thing is_

Betty has been mulling over logical reasons as to why her and Archie grew apart for months now, dissecting every last conversation they had and wondering if it was her fault or his ( _most probably_ _is_ , Ronnie had said over the phone when Betty had accidentally brought it up) or if it was because him and Ronnie had had a _thing_ once ( _most probably isn’t_ , Betty had thought because her and Ronnie are still as thick as thieves and she can’t imagine not having Veronica Lodge in her life, nor does she want to).  

It’s getting easier now though, imagining Archie not in hers.

“Hey there, Bets,” Archie says after a pause, running his hand through his hair. He’s tapping his left foot against the wooden floor and it reminds her of when he used to do that while he waited for her to get ready before they left to Pop’s. She wants to tell him to leave her _alone._

“Archie,” Betty says and then she stops because, what does she say? “What are you doing here?”

Archie has the decency to look sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck like he used to do when he was nervous. _Old habits_ , Betty thinks.

“I was in town,” Archie says and Betty snorts. She doesn’t mean to, but she does.

“You school in California. How did you wind up in New York?” she questions and his cheeks are as red as his hair.

“Are you gonna let me in?” he jokes and she moves aside. He doesn’t have any luggage except for a duffle bag. They sit at her dining table, and it’s so, _so_ awkward that Betty wants to crawl into a hole.

“Coffee?” she asks, and he nods and she’s grateful for something to do she switches on the pot and grabs two cups. When she’s done, she places his cup in front of him and when he takes a sip, he smiles.

“You remember how I take it,” he says and Betty hadn’t even realised she added two and a quarter spoons of sugar and two creams. Muscle memory, she guesses.

“How are you, Archie?” she asks once she’s finished almost half her cup of coffee and he grins.

“I’m good, Betty. School’s a load of work and football is even worse, but I’m doing okay,” he replies and she smiles back. “How are you?”

“I’m good too, Archie,” she says and there’s a pregnant pause before he speaks.

“How’s journalism?” he asks and Betty doesn’t know if she wants to laugh or cry because when did having a conversation with Archie become this odd?

“Nice, yeah. There’s a lot of field work and newspaper companies can be real mean, but it’s good.”

“That’s great Betty!” Archie exclaims but his hand is tapping a rhythm on the table and his foot is tapping a rhythm on the floor so Betty knows he’s anxious. She finishes her coffee and he finishes his and they sort of just watch each other, both cautious. Betty sighs.

“Why are you here, Arch?” she asks, and her voice sounds tired. She didn’t think she’d see him until December and that’s only because her mother had forbidden her from skipping out on both Thanksgiving _and_ Christmas. It was a miracle that Betty managed to escape Thanksgiving at all. With Polly still gone and her mother being, well, her mother, Betty couldn’t deal with a week of her nagging and criticising every single thing Betty did.

“I thought I’d come see you. It’s been a while,” Archie says quietly.

“Yeah, it has,” Betty agrees and they’re both watching each other. “Aren’t you going home for Thanksgiving? You never miss it.”

“Dad’s got Karen for today. I’m taking a flight out tomorrow afternoon back home so I’ll make it in time for Thanksgiving dinner,” Archie says, wincing slightly at the mention of Karen. Her and Fred had been going out for almost a year, and Betty knows how tough it’s been on Archie but she’s barely talked to him about it. The most she’s heard is from Jughead who’s calls her infrequently, but when he does, they talk for _hours_.

“How is she?” Betty cautiously asks and Archie slumps in his chair.

“She’s great. She’s nice and friendly and dad and her love the same bands. He’s happy,” Archie says although he itself, looks rather sad.

“Arch,” Betty starts and he looks at her like he did after him and Ronnie had broken up. Like a kicked puppy. “I’m sorry. I know how tough it’s been on you.”

Archie’s face goes stony at that, and it’s odd because she can count on one hand, the number of times she’s seen him get angry. Archie Andrews isn’t the sort of person who loses his temper.

“Yeah, it has been really tough on me Betty. I could’ve used a friend to talk to,” he says and his voice shakes a bit at the end of his sentence and Betty feels her hands start to get clammy. “You just _disappeared_ , Betty! No call, no text. You’ve been missing in action for a year! Although apparently that’s just _me_. I bumped into Reggie the other day; he told me you had internship with The New York Times. Reggie of all people knows that, but I don’t!”

_See, the thing is_

Betty’s sort of lying.  She hasn’t texted him a handful of times; she texted him once for his birthday. She did send him the vinyl though. Archie has tried to call though, more times than she can count. Sometimes she lets her phone ring and then watches the screen go black and other times, times when she’s annoyed because the wording in her report isn’t right or she spelt something wrong, she presses the red _REJECT_ button and hopes Archie feels the way she felt when he had told her she was too good for him when they were sixteen. So maybe, she’s a _little_ hurt.

It’s not about that, though. It’s not about Archie and Ronnie or Archie and Cheryl (sometimes Betty can’t believe that actually happened. Neither can Ronnie.) or Archie and any other person he’s dated.

It’s about Betty.

Being in love with someone is _hard_. Especially if they’re not in love with you. When Betty left Riverdale, she left everything behind. Her mother’s constant ‘constructive criticism’, her sister and Jason, Jason’s murder, her insecurities. But mostly, she left Archie.

It’s easy, pretending she doesn’t love him when she’s in New York, studying journalism and visiting museums in her spare time. Everything is so much easier without the weight of her last couple of years in Riverdale, dragging her down.

Betty takes a deep breath.

“So you’re here to tell me off for being an awful friend then?” she asks, half joking half serious. Archie’s jaw clenches.

“Why did you just disappear Betty?” he asks and this time, he’s the one who sounds tired.

“It’s easier, Archie. It’s so much easier leaving Riverdale behind.”

“You didn’t leave Riverdale behind, though. You talk to Ronnie and Jug and Reggie, for God sakes. You left me behind.”

Suddenly, Betty is angry. She balls her hands into fists and clenches her jaw. They’re both sort of mirroring each other, clenched jaws and frustration.

“It’s not always about _you_ , Archie!” she says before she can stop herself and Archie looks surprised before he looks away.

“I didn’t mean that,” she corrects and Archie snorts.

“Yeah you did, Bets. You always mean what you say,” he says and Betty slumps in her chair.

“I did leave you behind,” Betty says after a bout of silence and Archie looks up at her sharply. “It wasn’t easy. But it worked for me.”

“Betty, I-“

“I thought I’d get over it, you know? A childhood crush that would go away when we got older. But it didn’t. It hasn’t. You want to know why? That’s why, Archie. I didn’t tell you because that would be selfish of me,” Betty says, interrupting him and Archie looks so surprised that Betty wants to laugh. She should have become and actress, since she’s that convincing, apparently.

“I didn’t know,” he says and Betty snorts.

“Of course you didn’t, Arch. This is _you_ we’re talking about,” Betty says and Archie looks sheepish. But sad too.

“I talked to Ronnie yesterday,” Archie says and Betty smiles at the mention of Veronica.

“I wish she was here with us,” Betty says and Archie nods. “She always know what to do. And what to say.”

“She told me I was being stupid. That I should just tell you,” Archie says softly and Betty raises an eyebrow at him. “I missed you so much Betty.”

“I missed you too,” Betty says honestly because she has. “I know I should apologise, blocking you out wasn’t fair to you or our friendship.”

“No, you don’t. You’re right. I always thought about me. It never once occurred to me, how it must have felt for you when I dated Ronnie and Cheryl.”

“Gee, thanks for that reminder, Arch,” Betty retorts, drily and Archie laughs, eyes crinkling. She smiles back.

“You’re not letting me finish, Bets. It never occurred to me in high school. And then we all went off to college and you stopped talking to me and it was like I lost a part of me. Those are the exact words I used when I told Ronnie I was coming to see you.”

Betty’s heart only flutters a bit when he says that, so she gives herself a mental pat on her back.

“What did she say?” Betty asks and Archie smiles.

“ _You’re a real piece of work, you know that Archiekins? You’re such a boy_ ,” Archie says, imitating Ronnie’s hand gestures and Betty laughs. It’s been a while since she’s laughed with Archie. It feels nice, Betty thinks.

“And then she told me I was stupid, and that I needed to figure it out for myself.”

Betty doesn’t know what to say but apparently she doesn’t have to because Archie starts talking again.

“At first, when you stopped texting and taking my calls, I thought alright, she doesn’t want to talk to me. But then I’d see a book you read in high school or a sweater that you’d love at a store and it would be like a punch to my gut. And then, I thought this must be normal. I mean you’re my best friend and then suddenly, you vanished so this must be how normal people react to losing a friend,” and Archie pauses here, looking straight at Betty. “But then, this one night, I was at a party and they played a song that was playing during Reggie’s party on the night we graduated and I remember you wore this dress and your hair was let down, and it was like the weirdest sense of déjà vu ever. Because I was at this party, and I was hoping that by some chance you would walk through the doors, with your hair down and in that very dress. And then you didn’t.”

Betty is half-confused, half-feeling like she might fall in love with him again, at this point.

“Archie, what are you getting at?” she asks, because she really doesn’t know.

“That’s when I realised, that I’m in love with you. And I called, and you didn’t answer so I left it alone. Ronnie was wrong. I didn’t have to figure it out. I already knew. I know _now_.”

Betty, to put it lightly, is at a loss for words. She opens her mouth and then closes it and then tilts her head to the side.

“Huh,” she says after a handful of minutes and Archie snorts.

“That’s all you’re gonna say?” he asks and she looks at him carefully, and then stands up.

“I think I’m going to kiss you,” she says and then she’s across the table and they’re kissing and if this were a horrible young adult novel, Betty would describe the feeling of kissing Archie like watching the fourth of July fireworks while sipping on a soda float but because she’s twenty-one, she’s not going to. She slips into his lap, and his grip on her waist tightens and her grip in his hair tightens and they both forget to breathe so Betty pulls away and rests her forehead against his.

“Did you get that speech from Seventeen Magazine?” Betty asks once they’re done catching their breath and Archie pinches her waist.

“You totally loved it,” he says and she grins.

“I guess,” she agrees and then she’s pulling him back into a kiss and his hands are moving to her hips and everything is finally okay.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> you guys i love archiebetty so much, i've loved them since i read the comics. although if i'm being honest, i love every ship on riverdale except for miss grundy (yuck!) and archie. 
> 
> but anyways, archiebetty has a very special place in my heart since it's one of my very first ships (i read the comics ages ago). this was sorta very angsty, on betty's part, and sorta very cheesy on archie's which i think suits them pretty okay, especially if we're talking about them on riverdale. i hope you enjoyed this! 
> 
> kudos and comments are highly appreciated.
> 
> p.s. totally not edited so forgive me for the mistakes and feel free to point them out.
> 
> p.p.s. i don't really like the ending but hey, you've got to end it somewhere right? same goes for the title, but i've never been good at those so oh well


End file.
